fed up with Comcast - what's better - Dish Network or Direct TV?

[jostenmeat]

To me its like doing business with AV123 after knowing they stole benefit funds, which to me is shady and as low as one would go, but the fact that they (DTV) sued people like they did would ward me off....

I'm sure there were people that were guilty and got what they deserved, but for those that were not guilty - that is just sickening, lumping everyone together like that IMO.

I didn't know about this. I have to admit, when I think of DTV, I think of the class action lawsuit started in CA against them several years ago, for fraudulently claiming HD.

I am under the impression that they have improved it, at least somewhat. I think they made enough money off NFL packages to be able to finally get around to improving codec compression or something. Yeah, it used to look bad enough, that with sports on a plasma from a distance, it was not so easy to tell if it was even in SD or not.

The head lawyer was measuring the bitrates and what not, and it barely passed even as HD lite at the time. IIRC, they were averaging like 5-6 mbps (can't recall exactly). To put that in context, the typical avg bitrate for a bluray is on the order of something like 16m/s at the very low end, and 28.8m/s for something like Avatar. Those numbers are video only, audio not included. (Of course, if you included audio, the differences become even more dramatic.)

 

[TLS Guy]

To me its like doing business with AV123 after knowing they stole benefit funds, which to me is shady and as low as one would go, but the fact that they (DTV) sued people like they did would ward me off....

I'm sure there were people that were guilty and got what they deserved, but for those that were not guilty - that is just sickening, lumping everyone together like that IMO.

I have been a subscriber to Direct TV for four years now.

I have to use satellite to get HD at this location. Although as I write, Paul Bunyan telephone coop are busy installing fiber cable to every residence in this remote location. They will be the first system in the nation to have fiber to every customers location, and the project is nearly complete. Then I will have the option of having them supply me with HD TV.

Direct TV are far from a stellar company.

Their equipment is problematic and very fragile. Be prepared to have to use a good whole house surge protector and a good smart UPS, if you don't want continuous breakdowns of DVRs and their roof electronics. My first dish from Direct TV did not have water seals protecting the roof receiver and multi switch, so it went down after a heavy rains with a wind behind them, until they came up with a redesign.

There techs and installers are very poor and need leading by the nose. Be prepared to have to finish the installation to have it meet electrical grounding codes, I had to.

The dish in my view is not well deigned, and I do not think would stand up well in adverse weather. I made extensive modifications to my dish pole before allowing it to be put on my roof.

If you have a problem, be prepared to have to diagnose the fault yourself.

Customer service is a nightmare, If you have a problem with a DVR for instance, even if you are certain from screen diagnostics what the problem is, customer service will make you go through basic diagnostic test you have done already. The they will want to send a dumb tech out for a problem you have pinned down. At that point you really have to give them a bad time.

I have heard even worse stories from people round here who have Dish.

At our Eagan town home, we have Comcast and we have had far less issues with them. So be careful before you leap.

 

[Warpdrv]

I just like to make sure that people whom are considering DTV to at least have some sort of idea of what kind of company they are dealing with...

I have had relatively good CS with Dish, really no complaints....

Only issues I had was a couple of receivers going down over the last 3 years, in which you tell them you have no screen output at all even if you do, so they don't toss you through all the scripted nonsense CS tries to put you through..... lessens the blow at least....

As far as Installs go - If your going to get any SAT co to install, I would suggest that you do all your wiring inside yourself. I ran everything inside my house all the way to the eve where the dish was going to be installed, made sure to use the proper wire and all leads running to the outside are caulked properly with the drip loop as well... Then when you have them come to install the dish, discuss with them what their intentions/options are for their install and watch them do it so they don't mess it up or screw up your home.

My point with running all the wire inside to the locations where your receivers will be are 2 fold..... first - you know its done right with no short cuts taken or hack jobs performed from Shoddy/LAZY installers who just don't care... (Its not My House kinda people)

Secondly, when the installers show up, all they have to do is mount the dish, aim it, hook up the cables to the dish and receivers and then get approval from the SAT company... they look at it like it will be much easier and won't have a big pain in the @$$ job.

How many of these guys just want to rush through a job because they need to meet their buddies out for cocktails or volleyball or baseball, basically whatever is more important to them then their jobs.... cause they hate their jobs..... albeit, tips certainly can help change the scope of ones attitude as does BEER bring a case to their attention...

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I hated Dish so I switched to Direct. I then hated Direct so I switched to U-Verse so I could hate them and I am just about there. FIOS is by far the best but not in my area and according to their business plans, they are not going into many new places as of now.

 

[Warpdrv]

I really only want Fios for high speed internet.... So as it sits I have Time Warner for internet and Dish for TV, I absolutely abhor time warner for TV, just plain awful menu system and service.... Oh and equipment bust bytes the royal wad...

 

[A/HTArchitect]

Dish?...turn and run away, QUCKLY

Dish is consistently operating on about 2/3 the bandwidth of DirecTV. The biggest area you'll notice this is they have to pass around their HD capability throughout the day this is why some channels are HD only some parts of the day specifically prime time. This will also be an issue when triggering DD during a 5.1 broadcast. If Dish is stretching it's bandwidth very often there won't be enough signal to trigger the DD on your receiver/processor. That doesn't even begin to deal with Dish's customer service. I still don't see how they stay in business. I was a custom dealer and installer for 12 years, and could always feel the pain in the pit of my stomach when I knew I was going to have to deal with Dish for a customer. look they might be a little less money but it isn't Much. It most definitely isn't enough to warrant the putting up with so-so technology and the crap service.
Good luck
Your Friend in Audio,
Paul

 

[Hittdog]

Gotta say, after a few weeks, I'm pretty happy with DirecTV. The only thing I'm not thrilled about is that HBO programming isn't offered On-Demand. Other than that, it's pretty sweet and I'm saving a pretty penny versus Comcast too

 

[audioholic212]

Or you could do like me, and just go OTA. $40-80 for a good antenna, free, uncompressed (which only FIOS could match, but at greater expense). Get a coax cable, plug it in to your TV ATSC/tuner, voila.

Use this to know what direction to point your antenna. You'll still pick up a boat load of signals, even if your antenna is sitting on the floor, in my limited experiences.
http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29

http://www.tvfool.com/

With all that money you save, you can put that towards more bluray rentals and purchases, and waste less time trying to find something worthwhile to watch. If you liked your HBO, you can rent those shows, or of course buy. On a strong rec from a friend, I bought season 1 of Mad Men for $17 on BD for instance. I wonder how much one month of HBO costs.

I get news, Olympic games, Final Four basketball, every football game, local NBA basketball games, network shows, a ton of foreign channels. It will look better than Comcast, DTV, or Dish, and yet it's totally free.

Unfortunately, you won't get NHL playoffs, ESPN, History, Food Network, Discovery, etc. Still, you can rent anything, and have a lot of money in the pocket. Just an idea to consider!

my 2 cents.

I do OTA and my life changed. I save around 80 bucks a month. But, yes, I am the guy who doesn't miss not having ESPN, FOOD Network etc. And on top of it, I use my computer as my DVR and use Windows Media Extender to get my recorded shows onto my TV. I also have direct OTA TV. So, I can watch one show and record three shows at a time. I love it.

 

[WmAx]

I used Dish for years, then went to DTV, and went back to Dish as soon as my contract ended with DTV. DTV's receivers were slower(especially the HD) and I was just not happy with the company at all. Dish, however, has faster/superior hardware and I like the company/customer service better, though neither is my idea of great. The menus are much better with Dish also, I despised the DTV ones.

-Chris